Broke again? How about that! Console your wallet after an exxy festive season with $2 oysters, $20 pasta, and all-you-can-eat Malaysian.
You nailed the pressies, splashed on the good fizz, and your little oyster habit is now borderline obscene. Once again, December saw you spend beyond your means and in the harsh January light, it’s hitting you, right in the hip pocket. But the silly season ain’t over until Nick Kyrgios is spotted at Jim’s Greek Tavern, so from bargain martinis and oysters to $25 steak and bargain brekkies, here’s how to have it all on a budget in January.
$2 oysters, Cumulus, city
Every weekday from 3pm to 6pm, oysters at this Flinders Lane jewel are just $2 a shell – mignonette and lemon included. That’s three hours of shuckin’ for the holiday-makers and a couple of knock-off oysters for the back-at-workers. Take the excellent wine list for a spin while you’re there, and ease into the new year in salty frugality …
45 Flinders Lane, Melbourne, cumulusinc.com.au
$2 oysters, Pearl Diver, city
… before kicking on at Little Bourke Street’s Pearl Diver, which runs a very compelling oyster happy hour of its own. It’s not open on Mondays, but otherwise this is a weekday 5pm-7pm affair. A martini mightn’t be strictly in the budget after the holidays, but considering how much you’re saving on the oysters, isn’t it kind of free?
56 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne, pearldiver.com.au
$13.90 breakfast deal, Myth Cafe, West Melbourne
Nasi lemak is one of the great breakfast foods of the world: a deeply savoury assemblage of peanuts, fried anchovies, sambal, boiled egg, cucumber and coconut rice. At Myth, it’s wrapped in a banana leaf and served with Hainanese teh or kopi for a very reasonable $13.90, from open until 10am each day. More of a noodle head? Sub out the nasi lemak for fried vermicelli.
48 Rosslyn Street, West Melbourne, mythcafe.com.au
$60 pizza date night, Stefanino Panino, Collingwood
Melbourne’s patron saint of panini is now the northside’s pizzaiolo principale. The introduction of dinner service and a Gozney pizza oven has shown Stef Condello’s painterly way with flavour is just as delicious on a round of dough, and every Friday night he’s doing two pizzas and a cocktail carafe for $60.
Collingwood Yards, 4/30 Perry St, Collingwood, stefaninopanino.com
$25 steak, Three Blue Ducks, Tullamarine
Got a New Year’s resolution that involves more steak and more surfing? Wave park URBNSURF’s brilliant restaurant comes to the rescue. On Wednesdays from 5pm, get $25 rump steak, or go a cut above with porterhouse (200g, $35) or tomahawk (800g, $89). Arrive between 3pm and 5pm to hit the happy hour first. Maybe give it 30 minutes before getting back in that tube.
URBNSURF Melbourne, 309 Melrose Drive, Tullamarine, threeblueducks.com
$25 all you can eat, Ho Liao, city
The all-you-can-eat craze has reached mighty Malaysian restaurant Ho Liao. Fun! But first, some rules: everyone on the table must commit to the all-you-can-eat deal, and there must be at least two diners. The restaurant also asks that you finish everything before ordering another plate. Other than that, it’s unlimited inchi kabin fried chicken, roti with curry, egg fried rice and more for 90 minutes. Available at 8.30pm, daily.
Ho Liao, Level 2 Rainbow Alley, Melbourne, holiao.com.au
$16 martinis, The Douglas Club, city
How much are martinis these days? Three hundred bucks? Not at the flagship bar of Hilton Melbourne Little Queen Street. Until January 18, it’s running a promo called The Martini Affair, with $16 martinis from 7pm to 9pm daily. What’s more, it’s kicking off each evening with 24 free mini martinis at 7pm sharp; get there early for the full affair.
472 Bourke Street, Melbourne, thedouglasclub.com.au
$2 oysters, $9 sparkling, Moonhouse, Balaclava
You’re probably more au fait with this crew’s creative treatment of Chinese, but allow us to introduce you to its weekly oyster and fizz initiative. Every Thursday from 5.30pm ’til stumps, the oysters are $2 each and the prosecco’s just $9 a flute. There are no minimum orders, there are no maximum orders, just you, mano e mano with the molluscs.
282 Carlisle Street, Balaclava, moonhouse.com.au
Weekly specials, Harley & Rose, West Footscray
Regarded as the best in the west by the Melbourne pizza massive, Harley & Rose runs some of the most compelling dough-based deals in town. They change weekly, but the most recent Wednesday offering – $18 for every pizza, dine-in or take-away – is outrageous value. Keep your eyes peeled for deals on its socials.
572 Barkly Street, West Footscray, harleyandrose.net.au
$20 pasta, Marameo, city
The $20 bowl of pasta is an endangered species that must be protected at all costs. Gladly, Marameo is fighting the good fight with a vodka sauce pasta bake available at lunch and dinner all January long. Baked golden and stacked with stracciatella, it’s best followed with a local digestif from the very good amari list.
6 Russell Place, Melbourne, marameo.com.au
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Frank Sweet is editor of The Age Good Food Guide 2026 and a former food and drink editor at Time Out Beijing.
